IG says lax management allowed tea party targeting

ASSOCIATED PRESS

May 15, 2013 02:00 AM

The John Weld Peck Federal Building, shown Tuesday, May 14, 2013, in Cincinnati, houses the main offices for the Internal Revenue Service in the city. The IRS apologized Friday for what it acknowledged was "inappropriate" targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see whether they were violating their tax-exempt status. In some cases, the IRS acknowledged, agents inappropriately asked for lists of donors. The agency blamed low-level employees in a Cincinnati office, saying no high-level officials were aware.(AP Photo/Al Behrman)AP

ASSOCIATED PRESS

May 15, 2013 02:00 AM

WASHINGTON -- Ineffective management at the Internal Revenue Service allowed agents to improperly target tea party groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status, an internal Treasury Department report said Tuesday.

Lax managers allowed the practice to go on for more than 18 months, said the report from the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.

The IRS on Friday apologized for targeting tea party and other conservative groups. The report said that when asked by investigators, IRS supervisors said the criteria they used to decide which groups they examined were not influenced by people or organizations outside the IRS.

The agency started targeting groups with "tea party," "patriots" or "9/12 project" in their applications in March 2010. The criteria evolved to include groups that promoted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The practice ended in May 2012, according to a timeline in the report.

In some cases, the IRS acknowledged, agents inappropriately asked for lists of donors. The agency blamed low-level employees in a Cincinnati office, saying no high-level officials were aware. IRS agents were trying to determine if political activities of such groups disqualified them for tax-exempt status.